Huawei introduces a “stretched” Apple Watch clone and ANC wireless earphones

Huawei has launched its new Watch Fit smartwatch that looks almost like an Apple Watch. The Chinese tech giant also introduced the FreeLace Pro, an upgraded version of last year’s FreeLace wireless earphone. Both of Huawei’s new devices are targeted towards fitness enthusiasts who are looking to better track their workout performance while enjoying some music as they exercise.

Price and availability

According to Huawei, both the Watch Fit and FreeLace Pro will be available in Malaysia from 9 September onwards. The retail prices for the two products are as follows:

Huawei Watch Fit – RM499

Huawei FreeLace Pro – RM399

Both the Watch Fit and FreeLace Pro can be purchased from Huawei’s online store, Experience Stores and authorised dealers nationwide.

As of the time of writing, the products were not listed on Huawei’s Shopee page though it appears that the Watch Fit will soon be offered on Lazada’s official store.

Huawei is also having a special promotion (9 Sept – 9 Oct) that gives an RM100 rebate to customers that buy two units of the Watch Fit. So, instead of having to pay RM998 for two watches, you only need to pay RM898.

In addition, customers that purchase the new Watch Fit are eligible to participate in the Huawei Watch Fit Badminton Championship where they stand to win cash prizes up to RM10,000. They may also have a chance to have a friendly match with Malaysian badminton Olympic mixed doubles silver medalists, Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng.

For more details, check Huawei’s official Facebook page.

Watch Fit

Huawei seems to be taking a different approach to its smartwatches with the Watch Fit. Instead of going with the classic analogue watch-look taken on by the likes of the Watch GT 2, the company’s latest smartwatch takes a massive dose of inspiration from the Apple Watch. Though it can be easily mistaken for Apple’s best selling smartwatch from afar, if you look closer it has a rectangle screen and it is doesn’t have a digital crown on the right side.

The new Watch Fit appears to be very thin and weighs just 34g. The Watch Fit features a 1.64″ AMOLED (280 x 456 pixel resolution) display with a curved Gorilla glass top. You get six always-on watch faces that are visible at all times. This enables you to tell the time without to tap the screen or raise your wrist to activate the screen.

Huawei said there are plenty of watch faces available to choose from on Huawei’s Watch Face Store. The Watch Fit even allows users to upload up to five from their smartphone’s album that can be used to create their own unique watch face. Take note, however, that this feature doesn’t work with an iOS phone.

In terms of colours, users can choose between Sakura Pink, that is paired with a rose gold body or Graphite Black that features a matte grey body.

The Watch Fit comes with a built-in GPS Sensor for mapping your runs and an optical heart rate sensor for monitoring your heart rate in real-time. It also is able to track 11 professional sports such as running, swimming and cycling.

This is complemented by oxygen saturation (SpO2) detection, sleep tracking, stress monitoring and menstruation cycle tracking.

Aside from that, it boasts 5ATM-rated water resistance, that allows it to survive a drop into the water down to a depth of 50 meters. According to Huawei, the Watch Fit can be used for shallow-water activities like swimming in a pool but not for scuba diving.

Beyond tracking your performance, the Watch Fit has a handy Quick-Workout animation feature that help guide you through 44 types of exercises via an animated fitness trainer. Huawei likens the feature to having a personal trainer that you can call on anytime you need a quick work out.

Apart from that, you also get 85 custom workout modes that allow you to record exercises like yoga or high-intensity interval training. The watch is rated to have a 10 day battery life.

Those who love to work out while listening to music but don’t want to carry their phone along can use the Watch Fit’s 4GB of on-board storage to store their favourite tracks and listen to them over a pair of Bluetooth earphones.

FreeLace Pro

Huawei’s new FreeLace Pro wireless earphones are unlike the usual true wireless earbuds that we see around today. They come with a cord that can be secured around your neck.

On a whole, the FreeLace Pro sports a simple aesthetic with a single colour scheme that runs throughout its body. It will be available in three colours: Obsidian Black, Spruce Green and Morning White.

It comes with 14mm dynamic drivers, one on each earphone, that are claimed to offer improved audio performance, delivering deeper bass and clearer treble.

The earphones come with two microphones, one facing inwards and the other outwards. Both are used with its active noise cancellation system to block out noise when you workout or work at your desk. It also used to keep your voice clear when speaking during phone calls.

It also comes with a transparency mode that lets in external sounds so you can be more aware of your surroundings when you need to move around while wearing them.

Just like last year’s model, the earbuds are magnetic and can automatically disconnect when you attach the buds together. Similarly, it comes with Huawei’s HiPair feature that allows the FreeLace Pro to easily connect with a supported Huawei smartphone by plugging it into its USB-C port, that is also used to charge the earphones.

The FreeLace Pro’s built-in 150mAh battery is rated to last up to 24 hours of music playback with noise cancellation turned off. That’s an improvement of six hours over last year’s model. Huawei claims the earphone is able to last up to 16 hours with noise cancellation turned on.

If you find yourself in a spot where the earphones are completely drained, a quick five-minute charge gives you five hours of playback.

The FreeLace Pro also comes with a low-latency gaming mode that claims to reduce audio latency in games down to about 150ms. The only catch is this mode requires a Huawei device running on EMUI 9.1 or later.

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